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Do you only get the protection error when you use the ramdrive.sys command? Try going into the control panel, then system, device manager and performance. Change the memory settings to "Let me specify" and set beginning to 90 and ending size to 90 and let the computer reboot. Try running your Ram drive command again and let me know what happens. Oh, list the command exactly how your using it in you config.sys too!

Mike
P.S. You may be having a conflict with a device driver in your system, but we'll see if this works first.

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cconditCommented: 1998-05-08

Is it necessary to use a RAM drive? Generally you will get better all-around system performance by increasing your disk cache size. Under Windows 95, go into the System Control Panel Applet, Performance Tab. Be sure that read-ahead is all the way up, and the system is set for Network Server, and not Desktop or Portable. This will make Windows use more RAM for your disk cache. Also, set the minimum and maximum size of your swap file to be the same - this will stop Windows from resizing the swap file. If you have 80 MB of RAM, I would suggest setting this to 64-128 MB, depending on your software requirements. Just be sure to set the min and max size to the same.

Are you asking about a Ram Drive using RAMDRIVE.SYS or about Virtual Memor?
If it is Virtual Memory then here is "my two cents worth".

I have found it is more effective to add more physical memory to the machine than to rely on Virtual Memory. I use Windows 95 with 128Mb of EDO memory and it works far faster than it did previously with 64Mb of RAM. I agree to a point with "mikecr" and "ccondit" about using Virtual Memory but contrary to what most people say to set the Maximum and Minimum size to 2.5 time the amount of RAM Memory in the machine I have found that the physical memory limit of RAM + Virtual Memory is actually about 306K. I found that anything much more than this caused the Mouse to get erratic and slow unless there was a task actively "working" the CPU. I do not understand why this would be but that was my experience.

Oh boy... yeah, win 95 is a pain with ram. That is, of course, because DOS has no memory management to speak of, and even though it shouts "Windows..." from the rooftops, it's still DOS. Still got a 640K barrier. Now, virtual memory - there's a tasty little taco... instead of making a REAL 32-bit operating system, M$ makes this terribly slow "virtual memory" contraption that reduces the life of your hard disk by about 30%. RAM disk is out of the question, my friend - if you want real memory management, look at OS/2 or Redhat Linux.

I have found that, when using RAMDRIVE.SYS, you must also load EMM386.EXE in the CONFIG.SYS file. You will use some system performance by using the RAM Drive, but depending on what your purpose for using it is, it may help your case in particular, there is no way to generalize the issue without knowing exactly why you're creating the RAM Drive.

-Tom

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